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Monday, August 19, 2013

Barely legal: here's a toast hoping the small fry turn on the bigger fish ... by gimleteye

If federal charges stick, both former mayors Manny Marono, Sweetwater, and Michael Pizzi, Miami Lakes, will serve time in federal prison. In political circles, Pizzi was an outsider. Marono, on the other hand, was especially close to the heart of the beast.

The challenge for law enforcement has been to get its targets to flip. There is a long track record, at least the public one, to the contrary. Former county commissioners Pedro Reboredo, James Burke, and Dorrin Rolle: all could have assisted in flushing out public corruption in Miami Dade. Art Teele, who killed himself in the lobby of the Miami Herald and lost the most, could have ratted out a system that is known to flourish through the network of lobbyists "close" to powerful elected officials.

The US Department of Justice made successful cases in Palm Beach County against some former county commissioners who bled out taxpayers through favorable land transactions involving one big rock mine whose controversial history involved facilitation by the Jeb! Bush administration in Tallahassee.

There is redemption for former officials, top aides, and lobbyists who know where corruption flourishes. Whether the statute of limitations has run out or not, my message to lobbyists and insiders: only telling the truth will set you free.

11 comments:

Anonymous
said...

How do we know that Forte was not selling himself/Marona as the gatekeeper to the Governor just as Forte represented himself as the go-to guy for Marono ? Not saying it was known or condoned by Gov. Weird Eyes but isn't there the potential for a very profitable enterprise if you can convince folks to pay you to make the wheels of state government move faster ? How about this angle, if the dynamic duo had the ear of the Gov. and you did not retain them, maybe, just maybe, your project/ request/ idea got the thumbs down from these guys to the Gov.

In the last legislative session, at least three Miami-Dade communities -- Cutler Bay, Palmetto Bay and Miami Lakes -- got their water projects included in the budget. Miami Lakes' project was the only one of the three to escape the governor's veto pen. Forte represented Miami Lakes.

"Seijas knows?" Got any facts to back that up? It was EOM favorite Michael Pizzi who got popped for corruption, not Natacha Seijas. It was Pizzi who was taped taking bribes for doing official business. "Small fry?" I'm waiting to see how many counts of violating the Hobbs Act that the feds charge Pizzi with. Each transaction (the $750 campaign checks, and the three cash payments totaling $6,000) can support a separate charge if the feds want to roll that way. Add conspiracy for each town's scheme (Miami Lakes and Medley) and you're looking at a potential century in prison. Who do you think got Pizzi a job as a town attorney, a position he had no experience for? Answer that question and you'll see that he has a lot of people he could rat out.

Tie all this together. While Bell was Homestead Mayor, a towing company with no history in Homestead was awarded a contract over the long time vendor. The new towing company was always rumored to have ties to a Sweetwater politician or politicians. Later when Bells daughter was fired as a reserve officer from the Homestead Police Dept., she promptly landed a full time K-9 officers job in Sweetwater, with a take home vehicle. Im sure the folks in Sweetwater dont mind her burning their gas to go back and forth to Homestead.

On the Homestead towing contract: I heard the rumor that the contract which was held by the same individual for more than thirty years was split 50/50 by Bell and given to Marono and the previous contractor; who was extremely unhappy.

Miami Lakes Resident is right. The Feds hardly ever lose a case and I too have noticed that EOM has a hard-on for Pizzi. He got caught and there a plenty of rumors where he uses his famous, "Do you know who I am?" to get himself out of tickets, DUI traffic stops and paying for his bill at restaurants. Again, this is all hearsay, but now, he was caught, there are several witnesses and recordings to prove his wrongdoing and unjust enrichment AND he even lied to agents posing as auditors about fake feasibility studies that never took place, that never sent any grant employees or staff members to conduct any business whatsoever to secure grant money for the Town (cough, cough). But somehow we should believe that he's going to turn on Someone else? Marono turning on Pizzi would be hysterical.

These pathetic scumball wannabee politicians think are above the law. ~Mainly because the local authorities i.e., Miami-Dade Ethics (which everyone knows to be a joke), Katherine Fernandez Rundle's, and Miami Dade Police Department have looked the other way for years. These sad excuses for non-enforcement gives these local politicians a false sense of security. This is not the first time these officials have been outed on corruption charges and taking money under the table, along with many other violations. It's just the first time they played outside of their Miami-Dade comfort zone, where they were protected. These local authorities should be embarrassed that the FBI had to clean up behind them. FYI- It is Katherine Fernandez Rundles' office that is supposed to be enforcing the local charters and protecting the residents from this type of scum sucking politicians. Why stop at the obvious, We can only hope Rundle's office steps up to the plate now and follows through with all the charges on these politicians and their puppets for the blatant violations that the Miami Herald has so readily and easily exposed for them...

Quotes hall of fame - worth another look:

Jonathon Dunlop of Australia about the Miami Airport:"This is the most disorganized shambles of an airport that exists on this earth.''April 01, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment on Post__________________________________On "Colony Collapse Disorder":Anonymous said...I say lets wait till the last tree is going to be cut down, the last bit of oil used, the last lowland coastal areas flooded before we make any rash decisions that might effect the economy.April 21, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On Bee “Colony Collapse Disorder” being blamed on cell phones:Anonymous said...Hmmm. What are bees doing with cell phones, anyhow?April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment_________________________________On South Florida Water Supply:Ron Littlepage said...Unfortunately, we know who would win when it comes to allowing development to run amok and it's not the wildlife.April 20, 2007 Eye on Miami Comment Post_________________________________Lesley Blackner said:In Florida, the sad reality is that government exists to serve the development machine, not the citizenry. That's why it's proper to say that in Florida we have government of the developer, by the developer and for the developer.April 22, 2007 Eye on Miami Post_________________________________On City of Miami and Miami Dade County giving $1,000,000 each to Jorge Perez’s Related Group (The Group's 2005 revenues were $3.25 billion.):"It makes as much sense as me donating half my paycheck to Warren Buffett.”May 6, 2007 Miami Herald Columnist Ana Menendez_________________________________On the FCAT Test:"'Florida is a serial mis-user of test scores.''Bob Schaeffer, director for Massachusetts-based FairTest.May 25, 2007 Miami Herald_________________________________Clifford Schulman (Greenberg Traurig Lobbyist):"This is the first time in 33 years that any one has accused me of fraud." June 28, 2007 Miami HeraldI say: hmm.__________________________________Max Rameau, Homeless Activist:"I respect Ron Book for his work with the Homeless Trust, but the Liberty City community and others have given broad support to this idea. I don't know that a big-time millionaire lobbyist can tell us what is best for Liberty City and the black community.'' July 28, 2007 Miami Herald__________________________________"After years of mismanagement under a board of political appointees and neighborhood activists, Miami-Dade County administrators have proposed a new way to run the troubled empowerment zone program. The plan: Bring in new political appointees and neighborhood activists."November 6, 2007 Miami Herald: Reporter Scott Hiaasen______________________________________"Saying "Greater Everglades" and "Northern Everglades" is not saying Everglades -- other places are deserving of being protected too, but there is only one Everglades. The main thing is to keep the 'Main Thing' the main thing -- which, lately, has not been the main thing." Bob Mooney - on Listserve "Everglades Commons"________________________________________"Does anyone in their right mind believe that Florida could conduct postal balloting without a major screw-up or scandal? Heavens, no! The whole country is keenly aware that our state is a sump hole of incompetence and corruption."Carl Hiaasen - March 16, 2008 Miami Herald_______________________________________On the Charter Review: "Commissioners want us to vote on their own pet changes, ideas the review team explicitly rejected. And, they're throwing their blatantly self-serving ballot questions at us at the same time. What a slap in the face to the charter review team — and to all of us!" Michael Lewis of Miami Today - April 10, 2008______________________________________On the Miami Dade County Commission:''Unfortunately, this is a commission that would build a cyanide factory next to a playground if you hired the right 12 lobbyists,'' Miami Lakes Councilman Michael Pizzi - May 14, 2008______________________________________"The days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody recognizes that that’s not a smart way to build communities." President Barack Obama in Fort Meyers - February 10, 2009______________________________________"So."Dick Cheney's response when told that two thirds of Americans did not support the war in Iraq. - Time Magazine 2008______________________________________"It seems like a bad idea can always find a home in the Florida Legislature." - Howard Simon - Executive Director of Florida ACLU - March 24, 2010

______________________________________Complete this sentence: South Florida really needs a..."Regional plan for controlled growth (before it becomes a concrete jungle similar to Houston), and a completely new set of elected officials that make decisions based on what's good for the future of South Florida instead of what's good for their wallets. - Jack McCabe, Real Estate expert who predicted the housing boom's end. - August 29, 2011 Miami Herald